About Us

The project No Means No aims at developing of new polices for primary prevention from sexual violence against girls (14-18 years old). The project is implemented in partnership between Debut Association – Kyustendil and Moyat Grad (My City) Association – Varna.

Donors: Island, Lichtenstein and Norway under the European Economic Area Financial Mechanism.

Programme: Active Citizens Fund Bulgaria 2014-2021

Thematic priority № 4: Enhancing the contribution of civil society organizations to gender equality and prevention of gender-based violence

Project budget: 147 150 Euro

Subsidy: 147 150 Euro

Duration: 24 months (01.09.2021-31.08.2023)

Specific objectives:

• Undertaking surveys on the reasons, consequences and possible approaches for averting gender-based violence and in regards to gender equality through making the range of the problem popular;
• Monitoring of public policies and practices in regards to home violence and gender-based violence;
• Strategic communication based on personal stories and representative campaigns directed to youths, parents, teachers.

Main activities:        

STORIES ON SHAMES CONTEST AND CONTEST FOR SELECTION OF YOUTH ART TEAM

Conducting of two contests – one in the city of Kyustendil and one in the city of Varna, to select youths at the age between 14 and 19 to be involved in the implementation of next project activities being part of the project art teams. Selection of personal stories connected with sexual violence against girls to be used as a ground for scenarios of future short films.

YOUTH ART ACADEMY

Training of the youths from the project art teams in Kyustendil and Varna based on the method “learning through experiencing” on the following topics: 

• Developing acting abilities and behavior in front of a camera (only in Kyustendil);
• Scenario and dramaturgical text development out of real cases;
• Cinematography and direction;
• Video editing and sounding;
• Musical formation;
• Creation and promotion of a YouTube channel.

SHOOTING YOUTH YOUTUBE SERIES AND SHORT FILMS

Creating series of minimum 10 episodes each with duration of 20 minutes on the ground of the personal stories collected in the project beginning and written by the Kyustendil youth team. Producing of 10 short documentary films, each with duration of 10 minutes, on the topic by the Varna youth team. The films will be broadcasted in the project YouTube channel and will present as real stories as messages for overcoming violence.

CAMPAIGN FOR STRATEGIC COMMUNICATION AND REPRESENTATION

National campaign under the motto No Means No with the assistance of an advertising agency to increase citizen activities among Secondary schools students, parents and teachers, and among the responsible institutions for prevention and struggle against sexual violence against girls (14-18 years old).

Organizing national conference in the city of Varna directed to polices development for primary prevention on the problem, teachers, parents, representatives of Ministry of Education and Science and Regional Departments of Education.

Main target groups:

• Public national and local institutions;
• Teachers and trainers.

Final Beneficiaries

• Youths at the age between 18 and 29;
• Common public.

This publication was created with the financial support of the Active Citizens Bulgaria Fund under the Financial Mechanism of the European Economic Area. All responsibility for the content of the document is borne by the Debut Association and under no circumstances can be assumed that it reflects the official opinion of the Financial Mechanism of the European Economic Area and the Operator of the Active Citizens Fund Bulgaria.

Information About Organizations

Debut Association was established in 2002 and from then on it has been organising classes for modern dances and theatre acting, annually training more than 100 children and young people aged from 5 to 18 grouped in five groups depending on the age. The Association has performed so far more than 20 individual spectacles by its own, some of which has presented in Italy, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Belgium, Serbia and Northern Macedonia.

The Debut Association carries out social projects aiming at developing communicational skills among youths through theatre based on sharing and solving conflict situations with approaches and methods different from violence.

Project: Life is A Stage under DAGA (Rainbow) Programme of Workshops for Civic Initiatives Foundation.

Project: Ethnic Youth Conflicts, NGO Programme in Bulgaria under EEA Financial Mechanism 2009-2014.

The effects achieved by the implementation of these projects are decreasing of aggression, decreasing of expressions of violence, of ethnic discrimination and reasonless absences from school classes.

Project: Development of Youth Theatres against Hate Network, financed by Active Citizens Fund under EEA Grants 2014-2021.

The project is implemented in a partnership with another three organizations from Bulgaria and has the total budget of 86 170 Euro, of which the subsidy is 77526 Euro. Its duration is 33 months starting from 24th of October 2019 till 24th of July 2022. It aims at developing a network of organizations working with young people and increasing their capacity in using a model of working so that to overcome conflicts and to develop critical thinking among youths through theatre approaches. It is directed to capacity development of more than 20 organizations from 4 different regions in Bulgaria to apply innovative models for youths’ empowering, developing democratic values among youths and overcoming hate towards marginalized groups.

Project: No Means No, financed by Active Citizens Fund under EEA Grants 2014-2021.

The No Means No project will contribute to changing the viewpoint towards sexual assaults on girls among teenagers themselves through strategic communication based on personal stories. Two youth teams, each comprising of 20 young people, in Kyustendil and Varna will be trained in order to be created movies based on real stories: a youth series (Kyustendil) and 10 short films (Varna). They will be disseminated through YouTube Channel promoted widely in social networks and traditional media. The project addresses the problem through a bottom-up approach by changing the way of thinking among the youth themselves and involving responsible institutions.

The Moyat Grad (My City) Association is a youth non-government organization established in 2011 in the city of Varna aiming at uniting of resources and developing inter-sector partnerships for solving local youth problems in the field of education, youth activities and sports, ecology, human rights through individual and partner projects.

The organization is registered for public benefit in the Non-Profit Legal Entities Central Register at the Ministry of Justice under N 20120516009. The My City Association is also registered in the National Information System for Youth at the Ministry of Youth and Sports. It is an associate partner in the Consultative Youth Council for partnership with the local government in the municipality of Varna.

Due to our members, our organization provides highly qualified expertise and takes part in many workshops, forums, conferences and round tables on the questions related to volunteering development and wide civic participation of young people in the society’s life. We support the development and increasing of knowledge and skills of young people in the field of career orientation, professions of future and social entrepreneurship.
Through our actively involvement in Erasmus+ Programme and the European Economic Area Financial Mechanism we introduce innovative models and new educational resources to support the young people in Bulgaria.
We have been awarded by Euroguidance for good practices in the field of career orientation among youths and promoting professions of future.

We keep good partnership with educational institutions through collaborating in development and implementation of different initiatives. Over the years we also have been established partnerships with international and national organizations, state and municipal bodies.

Media partners of the My City Association are Varna Regional TV Center of the Bulgarian National Television, INFOTEKA.BG Internet media and Dnes+.

News

This publication was created with the financial support of the Active Citizens Bulgaria Fund under the Financial Mechanism of the European Economic Area. All responsibility for the content of the document is borne by the Debut Association and under no circumstances can be assumed that it reflects the official opinion of the Financial Mechanism of the European Economic Area and the Operator of the Active Citizens Fund Bulgaria.

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